Franklin County Civil Docket Searches
Start with MyCase, the portal for non-confidential civil case information from Franklin Circuit Court 1 and 2. A full case number is best. When you only know a person or business, use the Name tab, pick Franklin County, set the case category to Civil, Family, or Probate, and narrow with status and filing dates. Business names go in the business field. Party-name searches can run broad, since the portal caps results at 1,000.
The portal is only one channel. The shared clerk's counter and public terminal serve visitors at the courthouse, and the clerk handles focused questions by phone, fax, email, mail, or an agreed electronic method. The court office can confirm a setting. The court reporter supplies transcripts. E-filing exists for parties and counsel, not as a public archive, and approved compiled data requests go through Indiana Office of Court Services rather than any private vendor.
- Search by the complete 24C01 or 24C02 case number when possible.
- For a name search, enter a last name or the business name and narrow the court.
- Select the civil category that fits the known matter without assuming it proves the division.
- Read the header, events, hearing settings, documents, and current status together.
- Give the clerk the division, case number, document name, and date for a copy request.
Franklin Plenary Cases in 24C02
Civil Plenary, coded PL, covers general civil relief. It sits with Franklin Circuit Court 2 under the current local rule. A working case number looks like 24C02-YYMM-PL-######. The prefix tells you the court and the filing pool. It says nothing about who will win or what facts have been proved. The category filter helps you find the docket entry. The complaint and later orders supply the substance.
A pending PL case shows its header, filing and status dates, the case style, appearances, a complaint, summons, returned service, an answer, document names with page counts, counsel fields, and FeeSummary entries. That event trail confirms when a filing was entered. It cannot replace the filed complaint or a certified order.
Civil Dockets: What They Show
A Franklin County civil court docket is a Chronological Case Summary, or CCS. Entries appear in date order, and some public documents link from them. Each field answers a different question. So do not read the status line alone.
| Case header | Division, case type, filing date, status date, and case style. |
|---|---|
| Party and counsel | Public roles, attorney appearances, and bar-number fields. |
| Event trail | Complaint, summons, service, answer, motions, hearings, and orders. |
| Document data | Name, page count, event date, and online availability when allowed. |
| Hearing block | Setting type, date, time, court, judicial officer, and reset data. |
| FeeSummary | Dated public transactions and balance subject to clerk confirmation. |
A pending header tells you less than the complaint does. The same goes for SRS, or service returned served. It records a service event, not proof that each allegation is true. Read the court's rulings and final disposition in context.
Franklin Civil Codes Alternate
Under the 2025 Supreme Court approval order, several civil categories alternate between the two divisions. CC collections, MF foreclosures, CT torts, DR domestic relations, RS reciprocal support, MI miscellaneous civil, EV evictions, CE, GV, and RA are not fixed to one division. Related protection-order causes stay grouped together.
So the case number beats guessing from case type. Circuit Court 2 also carries PL. It takes a broad set of probate, juvenile, mental-health, and guardianship matters. Circuit Court 1 takes small claims and its assigned or alternating civil work. Conflict rules can place a case with the other division too.
- PL
- Civil plenary, general civil relief assigned to Circuit Court 2.
- CC
- Civil collection.
- CT
- Civil tort.
- MF
- Mortgage foreclosure.
- EV
- Eviction.
- SC
- Small claims inside the Franklin circuit structure.
What Cases Fill the Civil Docket
Franklin County civil court dockets hold plenary disputes, collections, torts, foreclosures, evictions, small claims, domestic relations, reciprocal support, protection orders, and miscellaneous civil filings. Probate, estates, guardianships, adoption, juvenile, and mental-health work also uses civil-side court structures. But those are not one interchangeable public docket.
| Case group | Examples | Access note |
|---|---|---|
| General civil | PL, CC, CT, MF, MI | Public events may appear; documents vary. |
| Lower-dollar or possession | SC and EV | These remain circuit cases, not a Brookville town court. |
| Family and support | DR and RS | Some documents or data may be restricted. |
| Protective and sensitive | PO, juvenile, mental health | Special search and Rule 5 limits can apply. |
| Probate-related | Estates, guardianship, trusts | Case and document access depends on record type. |
Small claims is a case type, not a separate municipal bench. The official directory lists two Franklin courts of record and no county superior, town, or municipal court. A Brookville small-claims search therefore belongs in the Franklin circuit system.
Two Franklin Judges, No Superior Court
The 2024 Indiana Judicial Service Report lists two judges and two courts of record for Franklin County. There is no separate city- or town-court judge. That two-division model is why both 24C01 and 24C02 matter. It also explains why one unified clerk, rather than a separate civil or superior-court clerk, is the doorway to the records. The 2020 incorporated-place table adds local population context without touching the jurisdictional rule.
Two judges sit in Franklin. Both hear cases under the county's allocation rule, not a separate superior court.
Hearings on the Civil Docket
Read a hearing block closely. It can show the setting type and code, the session date and time, the court, the judicial officer, a rescheduled session, a canceled flag, and a cancellation reason. Dates are easy to confuse here. Filing date, service date, status date, and appear-by date are separate fields. None of those stands in for the actual hearing session.
Franklin County posts no standalone daily calendar page. Start with the MyCase hearing block. Then confirm any new or conflicting setting with the court at 765-647-4186 or court@franklincounty.in.gov. Under Administrative Rule 9, trial courts must make daily calendars or dockets available in electronic or other form.
The Rule 9 source lays out the statewide framework. It covers remote access, courthouse access, and calendars.
If an online date was just reset, trust the current order and court confirmation over the older display.
Franklin Civil Filing Trail
Filing a pleading is only half the trail. Indiana e-filing creates filing and service events. But it serves lawyers and parties rather than public browsing. The public searches MyCase, while a party files through an approved provider. A pleading can even appear in the CCS docket. Its PDF may stay restricted or in-person only.
Federal civil cases follow a different track entirely. Franklin County sits in the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Those dockets run on PACER and CM/ECF, never on 24C01 or 24C02 case numbers. The Southern District CM/ECF source shows that separate filing environment.
The Franklin clerk keeps no federal docket here.
Who Can See Civil Dockets
Access Rule 4 starts from openness. Rule 5 carves out protected cases, documents, and personal data. Family, probate, juvenile, medical, mental-health, and protection-order files carry limits a plain PL case never sees. A public event can name a document unavailable online.
The MyCase help source sorts access three ways. It explains public, party, and attorney access, converted events, CAPTCHA, and financial limits.
More account access does not unlock confidential court records. Protection orders follow a separate search route, and the process can require contact with Room 104. When a public PDF is missing, ask the clerk for a plain or certified copy, then confirm the fee and delivery method. Transcripts are different. They come from the reporter, not the CCS. The Franklin County court case records page sorts out those products.
Franklin Clerk Copies and Requests
Ruth R. Rowlett's clerk office is at 459 Main Street, Room 104, Brookville, Indiana 47012. Doors open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The office closes from 12:00 to 1:00. Call 765-647-5111, fax 765-647-3224, or email clerk@franklincounty.in.gov before mailing a request. State the division, case number, document or event date, plain or certified format, delivery choice, and contact details.
Franklin County posts no online copy form. No certified-copy price appears on the clerk page. Payments can be cash, money order, cashier's check, or credit card. Card fees run 3.5%, or a $0.50 minimum. That is a payment notice, not a promised copy price. Inspection is generally free. Copies, certification, transcripts, and special preparation can carry authorized charges.
One caution on forms. The Batesville public-record request form covers Batesville municipal records only. It is not a Franklin circuit-court copy form.
Forms go to the office that keeps the record. A request sent elsewhere will not reach the Franklin circuit court's files.